Main Abstract Content:Purpose. Emotional intelligence (EI) contributes to performance and well-being in ‘social’ jobs. As EI is composed of self- and other-focused dimensions, it remains unclear which dimensions are responsible for links with performance and well-being. We hypothesize that particularly self-focused EI dimensions are negatively associated with employee well-being, whereas other-focused EI dimensions are positively associated with performance.Design/Methodology. Dutch secretaries (N=110) were exposed to five incoming calls. These calls captured different work-related demands involving specific emotions (anger, sadness, enthusiasm, nervousness, and elatedness). Secretaries were asked to respond professionally to the callers and to indicate their perceived stress after each response. Additionally, two independent coders rated the number of emotion regulation strategies used and the overall effectiveness of each response.Results. Results showed that self-focused emotion appraisal was negatively related to secretaries’ perceived stress after all calls. Other-focused emotion-regulation was positively related to the number of emotion regulation strategies used and the effectiveness of the responses for three of the five calls.Limitations. Although the tasks were developed to closely mirror the real world, the experimental set-up of the study may have diminished its ecological validity.Research/Practical Implications. Results suggest that particularly self-focused EI dimensions affect the well-being domain, whereas particularly other-focused EI dimensions affect the performance domain. A distinction between self- and other-focused dimensions may be a promising avenue for future EI research and may have important implications for practice.Originality/Value. This study is unique in its distinction between self- and other-focused EI dimensions and the investigation of specific emotion types.